The real Truth About the Hatter
by Sunshine Zenica
Summary: The Hatter is obviously strange. But why? We find out the real reason the Hatter is such and an odd creature. And what this secret this love will do to Alice and Hatter's relationship.
1. Chapter 1

"I miss my hair. It was so long and flowing. And my other clothes. Theses are okay. I miss all my party clothes they were so elegant!" the Hatter thought.

"Hatter!" Alice yelled from down the hall.

The Hatter grabbed the top hat that always topped his head and walked out the door. Alice had come barreling down the hall and almost knocked him down.

"Hatter! Where have you been? I've been calling you!" Alice said, while pushed up very close to the Hatter. Alice being so close made his heart do backflips. He blushed and looked down and started to walk down the hall.

"Oh, Miss Alice I was just lost in my own mad mind." the Hatter said tapping his head, making Alice giggle.

"Let's race!" Alice yelled as she started to run down the long hall. hatter could only smile and run after her. The two both came crashing in the dinning room barely missing being smacked right in the face by a bowl of sugar launched by the March Hare.

"Oh You crazy hare! You almost hit me in the face!" the Hatter scolded. The Hare just laughed and continued to trash the dinning room. All the other guess began to spill in filing the table. The White Queen came in as regal as possiblyand then dinner began.

Dinner was almost half way over and everyone was chatting and having a good time. All except Hatter. He just sat at the end of the table and pushed his food around. He just wan't feeling it tonight. All of a sudden he stood up, drawing everyone's attention.

"I'm going to go to bed, I'm not feeling very well. I think I'm going to call it an early night." Hatter gave a strained smile to all at the table and took his dishes to the kitchen. Everyone then engaged back in thier conversations, unfazed by the Hatter's behavoir. All except Mirana, who quietly got up and followed the Hatter.

"Tarrant? Are you okay?" The White Queen said to the Hatter.

"I'm right as rain, Mirana. Except for the whole mad thing." the Hatter said wiping away tears and faking a smile. All Mirana could do was pull the Hatter into hug and pat his head.

"Hatter, you know you can tell everyone. We will all understand. I see how it is wearing on you." Mirana cooed.

"NO! I can't tell anyone!" Hatter pulled away from Mirana and started to sob in a corner. Mirana then pulled a small vile from the folds of her dress and handed it to the Hatter.

"This will hep you sleep. That will help, just get a good night's sleep and calm your nerves." Mirana said as she kissed his forehead and walked back into the dinning room.

The Hatter quickly gulped down the sickly sweet contents in the vile and began to walk to his room. Almost instantly the sleepiness started to hit him, his eyelids got so heavy. He felt like he was dragging cinder blocks instead of feet and his head bodded up and way down the hal he started to dream while he was still awake. All around him the HighTop Clan's old lands formed in the halls. He seen all the places of his childhood and all the people he once knew.

Again the Hatter started to cry and now he started to run. He tried to run away from all the memories, but he couldn't. Finally he seen his room door and sprinted for it. He barreled into the oor almost breaking it off the hinges and hit the bed. The Hatter was alseep almost instantly.


	2. Chapter 2

The Hatter woke up in a cold sweat. He sat up on his bed and looked around. He had just flung himself across the bed, fully clothed adn his poor top hat lay on the floor in front of him. he was just about to look and see what time it was when the clock chimed 12 times. Midnight. But now he was wide awake and felt dirty. So he resovled to take a nice hot shower and come and go back to sleep.

Quietly he grabbed a towel from his linen closet and stated to undess. He wrapped his towel around his and made a dash for the bathroom that was right across the hall from his room. Once in the restroom he strated up the shower and the room started to fil with steam and the Hatter started to relax. Soon the room as completely filled with steam and the Hatter jumped into the shower letting the hot water wash away all the day's worries.

Alice hadn't fallen asleep yet. She was in her room trying on all her fancy new dresses and putting on make up. She then tried to sit and read a book, but she was just plain restless. She heard the clock chime 12 times and groaned. She was going to sleep till noon tomorrow, she just knew it. So she took off her pretty dress, blew out her candle and tried to lay down and sleep. But her mind kept wondering. First she thought of the color of the sky just at dawn, the how pretty the pink was, and then how perfectly it matched the Hatter's lips. The Hatter. He seemed very strange today. All quite and whatnot, nothing like the Hatter she knew. Then she heard something. The sound of the water to the showers stopping. Always the curious, Alice jumped put of bed and popped her head out the door.

Out poked a dripping wet head, then a smallish body that skipped across the hall. Alice seen this and narrowed her eyes. Who was running into the Hatter's room this late at night? Angry,Alice grabbed her robe and stomped down the hall towards Hatter's room. The color wasrising in er cheeks she was so angry. But half way to Hatter's room she stopped. Why was she so jealous?

"I'm not jealous. I'm just concerned. That person might go in there and try to hurt Hatter. That's why I'm doing this." Alice whispered to herself in the dark. So onward she marched. She got to his door and put her ear to the door. She could have sworn she heard ragged breathing, like someone beaing choked, or someonein thr throws of passion.

Alice then flung open the door and was shoked at what she seen. Standing there wasn't the Hatter, itwas some floozy he more than likely found in the forest and brought home. Angry Alice yelled out in anger.

"You little whore!" Alice said to the young girl with her back tuned to her, "What are you doing with the Hatter?"

The girl's back went ridged and her shoulders slumped. She started to breath heavily and slumped to the floor. Alice then started to feel bad at what she had said. Who was she to judge the this poor girl for being seduced by the Hatter's unique charm?

"Hey. I'm sorry. I just. Well, I don't know what I was thinking." Alice said to the heap of crying girl on the floor, "It's going to be okay. I won't tell anyone. Promise."

"You don't even know what your promising." the girl said from the floor.

That voice, why did it sound so familar? Alice couldn't quite place that voice. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Hatter?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Hatter" Alice said to the crumpled mess on the floor, who at the utterrance of that name began to sob slowly sank down to the floor and tried to comprehend what just happened. This couldn't be true this was all a big trick. One big, sick joke played on her to make a fool out of her. Angry she grabbed the girl by the shoulderd and made her turn towards her.

All Alice could do was stifle the scream she was about to let loose. Sitting in front of her was the Hatter, but it wasn't. In front of her sata girl, a very prety girl,that looked just like the Hatter. Her bright orange curly hair was just starting to dry and fluff up, her alabaster skin was all pink in the cheeks from her intense sobs. Her eyelashes where ridiculously long and black framing her big lime green eyes. Her fushia lips were oh so pouty and slightly trembling from her atepmts to stop her sobs. This girl was Hatter and absolutely stunning.

Alice and Hatter sat and stared at eachother for a moment. Then Hatter sighed and got up to put clothes on. She walked over to her dresser and pulled out a purple silk shirt and a matching pair of underwear. Turing her back to Alice she dropped her towel. Alice looked up to see that Hatter had a flawless figure. Emberassed Alice put her head back down and blushed. The Hatter finished dressing and sat on her bed, pating the spot nexxt to her for Alice.

"I'm sorry I burst into your room," Alice said looking down at the bed, "I should ahve knowcked. I don't know what got into me." She was babbling. Her brain was still trying to wrap her miond around the fact that the Hatter, was really a woman. The Alice started to cry, she didn't know whybut she did. All of this was too much.

"Oh Alice, don't cry. Please don't cry. You'll make me cry some more!" the Hatter cooed to her. But it didn't work, so Hatter scooted closer to Alice and put her arms around her and patted her head with the other hand. Alice wraped her arms around this woman and cried intot he silk shirt. Eventually Alice stopped crying and lifted her head to look up at the Hatter.

"Tarrant?" Alice said, barely above a whisper.

"Actually, it's Tarra. My brother's name was Tarrant."

Alice was speechless. Tarra? Not Tarrant? That was the breaking point. Alice untangled herself from Tarra and stood up. Tarra only looked at her with hrt in her big lime green eyes.

"Alice, please don't," Tarra practically begged, "I'll explain everything if you just give me a chance."


	4. Chapter 4

Alice stood at the foot of the bed staring at this girl. Who was she? She had just said she wasn't Tarrant, but his sister. Her head spinning, Alice plopped back down on the bed and sighed. What could it hurt? For all she knew this was a crazy fever dream. She laid back and looked at Tarra upside down, just like she felt everything was.

"Go on. Explain everything, please." Alice said sighing again.

"From the begging?" Tarra said through her huge grin.

"Yes from the begging." Alice said as she put her hand over her eyes.

"Well. First off I'm a twin. It was me and my brother, Tarrant. My mother thought she was so clever naming us Tarra and Tarrant. In the end it actually hurt us. Tarrant wasn't exactly the most boyish, so they called him Tarra. And I was such a tomboy, so I got Tarrant. It was horrible up until we both turned 13. We both blossomed. Tarrant grew a foot a day it seemed and I got much more, um, shapely. Soon Tarrant got a job being the town hatter and I was the seamstress. We worked together all day; Tarrant was truly my best friend. He helped me deal with all the boys that had once teased me, now wanting to court me. I helped him go through the many dates he had to endure on our mother's prompting. Life was good.

"When we were 17, Tarrant was called to the White Queen's castle to make a few hats for her. The whole town was so excited, especially Tarrant. I made him a fancy new suit and sent him off first thing in the morning. He came back later that night with a funny look in his eyes. He went straight into his work shop and started to work. Mother wouldn't let me go talk to him so later that night I snuck out to see him. He was sitting at his work desk working furiously. I sat next to him for a little while marveling at all the beautiful hats that he had already made. Finally he looked up at me and I knew. He was in love with the White Queen.

"Mirana loves you?" Alice exclaimed.

"No, dearest. But I'll get to that later." Tarra said to Alice, who had rolled over on her stomach and propped her head up on her arms now interested.

"Well, the next time he went back with all the hats, he didn't come back for a few days. Everyone was worried, except me. I knew the two were frolicking in thier love for one another. When he did finally come back I knew their love for on another was completely cemented. All I could do was smile when our mother scolded him and he just sat there and listened. Now nothing seemed to faze him, all of the boring dates mother made him go on still didn't put a damper on his mood. And every time he went to the castle he spent a few days with Mirana. This love affair went on for about a year before Mirana came to our village.

"There was a huge festival and when Mirana rode in Tarrant was by her side. They both looked at each other with so much love in their eyes. This had sealed the deal. I knew Tarrant was going to go through with it. The day before Tarrant had told me that he planned to propose to Mirana. The day had just begun and everything was running smoothly. The children were running around playing, the men and women were all relaxing and laughing. Life was good in that moment. This was the way life was going to be from now on, since my brother was marrying into royalty. All I could do was smile and know everything was perfect." Tarra looked up at the ceiling deep in thought, with a smile on her face.

"The sun was about to set and the night party was going to start when my brother called everyone's attention. Everyone gathered around Tarrant and Mirana. Tarrant gave his little speech about how he never thought he would meet the lovely White Queen, let alone fall in love with her. The whole crowd gave a huge 'awe' and Tarrant got down on one knee in front of Mirana. Before he could ask her anything, his lovely green eyes grew bright red and he stood up. He ordered Mirana on her horse and as soon as she mounted, a blood curdling scream rang out. A hoard of Red Card Soldiers came running into town.

"Tarrant smacked Mirana's horse making it gallop away at full speed. Tarrant then began running against the crowd to get to try and fight the soldiers. He got a few of them but they all attacked him at once and he was down. I screamed and started to run towards him when one of the men in the town grabbed me. He dragged me behind a tree and clamped his hand over my mouth. We waited till the soldiers passed by us and ran a little further into the woods. He threw me to the ground and looked back to make sure no one was following. He turned back to me and started to undress." Tarra's breath hitched and she wiped away a little tear that had fallen on her cheek. Alice reached out and rubbed her knee, trying to comfort the poor girl.

"I started to sob and ask him not to hurt me please. He stopped and told me to shut my stupid mouth; he wasn't going to hurt me. He told me that the Red Queen ordered every woman and child killed. Only the men were to be taken and used as slaves in the castle. He told me to put his clothes on and run. Run as far away as possible. Quickly I got up and grabbed his clothes and slipped into them. He stood in front of me in just his underclothes, but I couldn't help but hug him. This man was saving my life. I could hear the soldiers running towards us and he pushed me away and told me to run.

"What did you do?" Alice asked her eyes wide in amazement.

"All I could do, I ran. I ran till my legs gave out under me. I collapsed under a tree and slept only for a few hours. When I woke up I was so tired and hungry and cold.


End file.
